{"id":5561,"date":"2021-10-21T16:42:54","date_gmt":"2021-10-21T16:42:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/?p=5561"},"modified":"2021-10-21T16:42:58","modified_gmt":"2021-10-21T16:42:58","slug":"how-to-use-the-2-minute-rule-to-create-habits-easily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/how-to-use-the-2-minute-rule-to-create-habits-easily\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Use the 2-Minute Rule to Create Habits Easily"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The 2-minute rule is the best trick I\u2019ve learned to create new habits easily. The theory comes from the book Atomic Habits<\/a> (affiliate link) by James Clear. It states that any new habit should be made as easy as possible to create and maintain, and thus every big goal can be broken down into a tiny 2-minute to-do.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recommended: <\/strong>Atomic Habits \u2013 Success From Daily Habits<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why it Works<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The reason the 2-minute rule works is that it reduces the perceived<\/em> effort. If our goal is to write a book, it may seem very daunting to have on your to-do list “Write a book”. And so, that would probably lead you to procrastination. But instead, if the daily goal is to “Write one sentence”, then we’re much more likely to give it a shot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And most often, the hardest part of any action is to get started. Once we\u2019ve already gotten ourselves into the action, it\u2019s likely that we\u2019ll continue to do it. This breaking-down of bigger goals can be applied to any goal such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • Write a book -> Write one sentence<\/li>
  • Walk 10.000 steps -> Put on your workout clothes<\/li>
  • Save $100.000 -> Save $10<\/li>
  • Study the entire course material -> Read one sentence<\/li>
  • Journal 2 pages -> Write one word<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    After some time with your new habit, you can up the challenge one step at a time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Another benefit of doing something, even if it\u2019s the most minimal effort, is that it reinforces our identity. If you write only one sentence a day but do it every day for months, then you\u2019ll be much more comfortable seeing yourself as someone who writes<\/em>. This will in turn subconsciously make you more likely to casually sit down to write: because that\u2019s just what you do!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    My Thoughts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    I\u2019ve always believed in the power of habits. I think any sort of long-term success in health, finances, competence, overcoming shyness, education, etc, comes from the daily or weekly habits we keep. From day to day, nothing drastic happens. But when accumulated over months, years, decades, and an entire lifetime, both good and bad habits create a much bigger reality. All the things I\u2019m most proud of myself for have been things that I\u2019ve worked on for years before the results have been shown. And now those habits and achievements have become a part of who I am.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For me, I\u2019m usually very good at forming and keeping habits such as daily 30 min walks, intermittent fasting, yoga, journaling, and reading. But when it comes to \u201cwork\u201d goals, such as when I was building my Etsy shop or this website, I can find myself procrastinating. For those types of habits, it\u2019s been very helpful to apply the 2-minute rule. For example, I used to have the goal of \u201cWrite one article a day and publish it\u201d. But, that just made me take long bouts of pauses from writing since I didn\u2019t believe I\u2019d achieve that every day. Then, I changed my goal to \u201cJust write something every day\u201d. Which worked better, but it still felt like a heavy aim. Now, my goal is to \u201cWrite one sentence every day\u201d. And the result is that I\u2019m able to sit down and write more consistently than ever before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In the book, he also mentions how you can try breaking any big goal you have into five different difficulty levels. And from that, you can choose the right amount of challenge for your current motivational level. So, if you’re having trouble with procrastination, try out this 2-minute rule before giving up on your goal!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The 2-minute rule is the best trick I\u2019ve learned to create new habits easily. It states that any new habit should be made as small as possible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5563,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[218],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-personal-development","entry","has-media"],"gutentor_comment":0,"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/The-2-Minute-Rule.png",1953,1156,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/The-2-Minute-Rule-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/The-2-Minute-Rule-300x178.png",300,178,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/The-2-Minute-Rule-768x455.png",768,455,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/The-2-Minute-Rule-1024x606.png",1024,606,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/The-2-Minute-Rule-1536x909.png",1536,909,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/The-2-Minute-Rule.png",1953,1156,false],"ocean-thumb-m":["https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/The-2-Minute-Rule.png",600,355,false],"ocean-thumb-ml":["https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/The-2-Minute-Rule.png",760,450,false],"ocean-thumb-l":["https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/The-2-Minute-Rule.png",1183,700,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Wendy Zhou","author_link":"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/author\/wendy1111live-se\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The 2-minute rule is the best trick I\u2019ve learned to create new habits easily. It states that any new habit should be made as small as possible.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5561"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5561\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5565,"href":"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5561\/revisions\/5565"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}